Other Forms of Tuberculosis

Forms - Introduction - Lymphatic - Bones - Urinary - Nervous - Other

When tuberculosis first lodges in the chest, the TB germs usually spread from the lung to the lymph nodes at the root of the lung. The lymph nodes can normally control these virulent germs, but it is possible for the germs to break out. If they do, the germs can destroy the filters (lymph nodes) in the chest and spread to the near and far parts of the body through the lymphatic channels and blood vessels.

This can happen to anyone who may have been recently infected. It can cause disease immediately or in the future in other parts of the body. The lymph nodes in the neck may be affected sometimes becoming very large and abscessed, and breaking through the skin. This condition used to be known as scrofula or "The King’s Evil." Symptoms may be severe but often are mild, with little or no fever. The person affected usually discovers the condition by feeling the lumps on the side of his or her neck. This condition is common among immigrants from Asia.